Pre-Cruise – Carnival Glory Cruise Trip Report; Chapter 1

The afternoon we headed to Miami looked like this … and this is with the windshield wipers on high!

We had a rough start to our relaxing vacation … and it turned out that we had some issues on our vacation too … but we’ll get to that in another chapter.

We were in Disney Magic Kingdom just 11 days before this photo was taken, when were were discussing what we were going to do for Trevon’s big 18th birthday that was fast approaching.

Miami came up, along with Saint Augustine, and Sarasota. Trevon likes Miami, and we hadn’t been since 2003!! It was then that I thought “if I’m going to Miami then I want to go on a cruise!”. We had been talking about it for years, ever since moving to Disney in 2009!!

When we lived in Asheville, NC we took quite a few cruises, and we were all missing that wonderful and relaxing style vacation that pretty much only cruises can give you.

While sitting in the MK we made a plan to go on a fun birthday cruise!!

Since we’re not far from the various cruise ports in Florida and our schedule is flexible we found a great deal on a last minute cruise on the Carnival Glory leaving out of Miami on March 30th. It was a 7 day cruise, vising Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Roatan Honduras, and Belize.

We had never been on a Carnival cruise before, but my mom had, and she enjoys them, and would be joining us on our celebration cruse.

We’ve been to Cozumel, and Grand Cayman a couple of times before. Belize and Honduras were new for us, so we were even more excited!

Tip: Check out Vacations To Go online. For the past 10+ years I have found them to have THE best prices on cruises. They even have a 90 day ticker for amazing deals!!

The next morning we were up bright and early, booking and paying for our trip that was coming up quickly … in 12 days!!!

It was neat not having to wait a long time counting down the days until the trip, because we were SO excited, but I did miss that countdown. When we had visited Disneyworld annually before moving here we always had about an 8 month countdown, and it was nice knowing that we would be going to Disney in the future, it gave it something extra magical to look forward to.

We sure needed that 12 days though! Preparing for the cruise cost way more than the actual cruise cost for our family of 5!!

Since there are formal or fancy nights on the ship everyone needed a formal outfit, complete with matching jewelry. Not just earrings, but bracelets, hair accessories, rings, and necklaces.

Trevon’s special and spectacular 18th birthday on board the Glory!!

Then there were the “I need these shorts”, or “I need this bathing suit”, or “I need this dress”. Boy it sure added up, but I will never forget the fun and excitement that week and a half of shopping for our Caribbean cruise!!

One thing’s for sure. After spending so much money preparing for the cruise (new luggage and all), we are definitely going to be taking at least one cruise per year now! We can’t let all that money spent on cruise items go to waste now can we?

Tip: If you’re planning a cruise, make sure to budget in the items you and your family will need and start buying them now, before your cruise.

So … after 11 days of shopping, and being sick (yes, being sick. I was the 1st to get sick the day after we booked our trip!) we were finally ready to head to Miami for our cruise!!